Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy

The research is focused on the extremely rare for the foraging society’s phenomenon of the formation in the Middle Ural of a ground-breaking Bronze Age metalworking center.

In this paper, we consider the metal production at three Late Bronze Age settlements, namely Kamenny Ambar, Ustye I, and Levoberezhnoe. Our methodology is based on the estimation of slag densities in cultural layers of the three settlements and the approximation of amount metal co-produced with slag. We conclude that the scale of production was relatively small and did not exceed 10 kg per year, as maximum.

The bioclimatic environment of soil formation has significant effects on the magnetic properties of soils. At this work, we compare the magnetic susceptibility between different ancient soil profiles and the modern upper layer of kurgans with predominantly sandy soil of different particle size distribution. The values of soil magnetic susceptibility on Kremenye kurgans are one to three orders of magnitude lower than those at Stepnoye and Solonchanka kurgans. Although, the magnetic susceptibility profile shows that ancient 100 and 1600-year-old soils are markedly different from the topsoil of kurgans. The 800-year-old soil profile does not provide any valuable information about the soil profile formation, but the Bronze Age buried soil profile of Stepnoye settlement and kurgan was interlayered with sandy soil with different particle size distribution; the magnetic susceptibility in the cultural layer was high. Using magnetic susceptibility measuring, we can obtain express characteristics of high-magnetic Fe-containing soil minerals amount reflected in the forming environment of the soils. The paleosoil magnetic properties can be interpreted only by a wide range of methods focusing on traditional physical and chemical peculiarities of soils based on the various microbiological characteristics of buried soils.

⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr strontium isotope ratios in fossil and modern bone and dental tissues of humans and animals for many years have been successfully used for the reconstructions of human and animal mobility. By analogy with bone and dental tissues, strontium can be incorporated and preserved in the hair of mammals. Sr isotope composition of sheep wool and, consequently, archaeological wool textiles reflects the signal of bioavailable strontium inappropriate pasture sites, thus allowing the possible territorial sources of raw materials to be identified. In the present work, the method of multi-collector ICP-MS strontium isotopic analysis of animal hair and archaeological wool textiles from many Bronze Age and modern sites of Russia was tested to determine their possible provenance. The Sr isotope ratios after preliminary chromatographic isolation were analyzed by Neptune Plus (Thermo Fischer) multi-collector ICP mass spectrometer using standard sample bracketing (SSB) technique with NIST SRM 987 Sr carbonate isotope standard. Variations in the strontium isotope ratios of archaeological wool textiles from the burial grounds of the Samara and Orenburg regions demonstrate that the origin of the raw materials for their manufacture could be associated with two geochemically different areas.

The work deals with the issue of various restoration methods (mechanical brushing and Trilon B treatment) influence on X-Ray fluorescence analysis data. The different restoration methods effect poorly on the XRF analysis results of bronze items composition. However, the mechanical brushing and Trilon B treatment can influence on Pb and Bi contents towards an increase (mechanical brushing) or decrease (Trilon B) in them.

The paper presents the results of micromagnetic and GPR surveys at No. 1 ancient quarry of Belousovsky mine. As a result of geophysical studies, we identified the local positive magnetic anomalies along the sides of the No. 1 quarry of Belousovsky mine. These anomalies are associated with the soils excavated from the quarry. According to the GPR data, the bottom topography of the ancient quarry was determined during its operation in the Bronze Age, and a three-dimensional model of the mine was created. Based on the results of the study, it is possible to estimate the number of excavated soils and the amount of ore mined.

The paper analyzes the original complex of large nuclei and plates produced from the unusual for the Middle Urals mineral raw material – white siliceous rock. The plates up to 12.3 cm long and 1.6–4.5 cm wide have mostly irregular facets and uneven side edges. The plates are distinguished by their thickness reached up to 1.6 cm. In general, the large-plate complex of Viyka I related to the Neolithic of the Middle Urals characterized by plates of 1.8–2.5 cm wide composed of light gray siliceous rock.

The stone industry of Gissar culture is one of the most striking phenomena of the Neolithic of Tajikistan. The production inventory of the Gissar sites is presented by tools composed of two types of raw materials: pebbles and flint. According to typological and traceological studies, pebble and flint tools are not fully interchangeable. They refer to different types and applied for various purposes. At the same time, the quantitative ratio of these groups of artifacts varies geographically: on several sites of the Yavan valley (a local version of Gissar culture) the flint inventory prevails. The paper describes briefly the Gissar culture and provides an overview of old and new data on various aspects of the typology and traceology of Gissar production equipment.

The application of jade as a material for the manufacturing of various products began in the Paleolithic. When processing jade, the ancient population of Eurasia used the technique of grinding, polishing, sawing, cutting, and drilling. This work is devoted to the study of the technology of drilling jade using hollow bones. We identified experimentally that in addition to stone drills jade can be drilled with a bone. During the drilling of various tools provide to identify the advantages and disadvantages of a particular drilling method were used, as well as the methodology for manufacturing large diameter holes with hollow bone drills.

The application of stone to create a various household and sacred products is widely known in many Eurasian Bronze Age sites, but the manufacturing technology remains poorly understood. This fully applies to the materials of Southern Turkmenistan where large multilayer settlements are investigated. These include Gonur Depe administrative and religious center of Ancient Margiana. Among its materials, the so-called “columns” were revealed, which are most often discovered in sacred complexes. Their shape resembles a chess piece—a rook—the upper part of some artifacts has a mushroom-shaped hat. Many details of their manufacture were examined only due to their surface studying with a microscope. These are areas with traces of pecking and preliminary marking for cutting grooves or gutters: narrow strips formed from friction. Also, we observed the particles of metal oxide on the surface of several columns that confirms the use of metal tools in the manufacturing process. The depth of the grooves does not exceed 0.2 cm, they have arched or rectangular profiles. In our collection, the variability of the columns sizes, location of the grooves on their bases and body are not caused by the different forms of these artifacts. Further, an experimental reconstruction of their manufacturing technology is expected to detail their production process.

We present the results of a survey of Aslaevo copper mine located on the border of the Chelyabinsk region and the Bashkortostan Republic. We described the peculiarities of mining materials from the mine dump and historical pieces of evidence indicate that the facility was in operation in the Late Modern Period, during the 18th–19th centuries. Several stone mining tools come from the mine dump surface. The characteristics of the tools from Aslaevo mine have a striking resemblance to the mining tools of the Bronze Age. This evidence may indicate the invariance of some elements of the technology for copper mining over millennia and enable usage of some Late Modern Period data when interpreting Bronze Age materials.

The paper is devoted to the basic regularities in the development of metallurgical production in the Eurasian Bronze Age and the differences in this development in particular areas. The growth of metallurgy was influenced by several factors. It based on socio-economic development that stimulated the growth of the metal consumption and transition to new types of ores, and then to new types of alloys. The additional factors were the availability of ore sources or the distance to them, the ore type, and technological borrowings outside or technological innovations from the migrating tribes. In several areas, the important factors were the emerging early states or a wide network creation of metal exchange and trade. The role of these factors was various in different periods and areas, and their interaction created diversity in the dynamics of this product development. But throughout the Bronze Age, this growth was based on precisely the development of society, and not the internal processes of development of innovations in metallurgy. Only after the transition to tin bronzes, the metallurgy started to exert some limited influence on the development of society.

The Southern Urals was and remains one of the most important centers of mining and processing of copper ores located on the territory of modern Russia. Here, since ancient times, the various types of Cu deposits were intensively developed in the Bronze Age, as follows disseminated sulfide ores in apoultramafic metasomatites (Ishkinino, Vorovskaya Yama, and Novotemir mines), massive-sulfide ores (Bakr-Tau and Bakr-Uzyak mines), copper-porphyry (Elenovka and Novonikolaevsky mines), sulfide-carbonate-quartz veins (Nikolskoe and Tash-Kazgan mines) and copper sandstones (Kargaly mines) (Zaykov et al. 2005), and two mining and metallurgical centers were divided in the Southern Urals: the west (Cis-Urals) and the east (Trans-Urals) (Chernykh 2002).

The paper deals with the problem of the Bronze Age hearths specialization. The diagnostic methodology to determine the function of the hearths is scarce. To that end, we used X-ray fluorescence analysis of the soil as one of the methods to date the hearths. The variations in the chemical composition of the soils sampled from different hearths may indicate their specialization. This provides to conclude that the stable types of hearths with various functionalities were used in the Bronze Age. The hearths can be divided into production hearths and special heating structures.

The work considers the new data on the Bronze Age metallurgy obtained from the analysis of materials from excavations of Levoberezhnoe settlement (Sintashta II). Through the X-ray fluorescence analysis, optical and electron microscopy, we examined the composition of artifacts; the mineral composition and textural, structural and geochemical peculiarities of metallurgical slags. The mineral composition of flat slag fragments is presented by olivine, glass, and magnetite. The relic mineral inclusions are Cr-rich spinels with various compositions. The compositions of the melt inclusions are diverse: one, two, and three-phase inclusions of copper, bronzes, sulfides, and arsenides are recorded. These metallurgical slags are identical to samples from other Bronze Age fortified settlements of the Southern Urals and related to the LBA I period. We suppose the copper ores associated with ultramafic rocks were used. The glassy formless slag and several other artifacts can be attributed to the metallurgical technology of the LBA III period.

The paper presents the mineralogical characteristics of the Late Bronze Age settlement Rodnikovoe metallurgical slags, belonging to the Cis-Urals Mining and Metallurgical Center. Two types of slag are distinguished: sulfide-containing glassy and pyroxene. The main mineralogical and geochemical indicators of slag are revealed. The main source of raw materials was rich sulfide ores of copper sandstones. By analogy with the well-studied metallurgical slag of the Gorny 1 settlement, it is assumed that these two types of slag belong to the Srubna period of the settlement.

The paper focuses on the role of metal artifacts in the Volga-Ural Yamna culture burial ritual. In the course of study 394 burials from 281 kurgans we surveyed for the presence of metal artifacts; only 51 of them (13% from all studied burial sites) contained the metal objects. The statistical calculation reveals a certain relationship between the great labor input into the burial complexes and the presence of the metal artifacts in Volga-Ural Yamna culture burials. The prime examples of these burial sites are the graves of the leaders where among other grave goods a quite number of metal objects of different applications had been discovered. The presence of metal artifacts in Yamna culture burials is a clear indicator of the dead person’s high social status for Volga-Ural Yamna culture.

Lead isotope analysis (LIA) is widely applied by archaeologists as a method for provenance studies of metal artifacts. The study aims to realize of lead isotope analysis methodology and evaluate of metrological characteristics for the studies of Bronze Age archaeological alloys dated between the 3rd–2nd millennium BC boundary and the beginning of 2nd millennium BC from the collections of the State Historical Museum (Moscow) to assess the uniformity/heterogeneity of ore base utilization and to subsequently determine the localization of utilized resources in the Bronze Age. The following bronze artifacts were studied: three celts from the Turbino cemetery, Perm Krai; the spearhead from the Bolshaya Plavitsa burial ground, Lipetsk region; the bead from Gerasimovka III, Orenburg region; and the bead from Stepnoye VII burial ground, Chelyabinsk region. Lead isotope measurements were performed on a Neptune Plus multi-collector ICP-mass spectrometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Germany) using the Tl-normalization technique after the chromatographic lead isolation. The calculated U(k = 2) method expanded uncertainty comprised U(²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb) = 0.3%, U(²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb) = 0.1% and U(²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb) = 0.1%. The results of the lead isotopic composition of archaeological bronze samples showed fairly wide variations in the isotopic composition of the analyzed alloys, reflecting the complex pattern of geochemical relationships within the alloys.

This study presents the results of metric and trace-wear analyses, as well as elemental composition analysis using the mass-spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-MS) of 42 sickles from the Sosnovaya Maza hoard from State Historical Museum. The main components of the alloy in all cases were identified as Cu (91.30–99.19%) and Fe (0.02–7.85%). The trace-wear analysis of sickles has revealed many traces on surfaces of the items that were assigned to three technological phases: casting, post-casting processing, and probable use of the sickles. The comparison of metric and trace-wear analyses results provide to identify eight subgroups of sickles. Each subgroup was supposedly cast in a single mold.

In this work, the metal artifacts of the First Dautovo (Itkul I) settlement from the South Ural National History Museum were examined by the XRF method. The items are presented by knives (4 pieces), a pour (1 piece), a core rod (1 piece), arrowheads (7 pieces), and a cooking bowl (1 piece). The composition of the bronzes from the Museum is close to the compositions of most of the Itkul culture items. The knives are of the same composition (pure copper). The arrowheads metal composition alternations are conditioned by different origin. The cooking bowl consists of several different metals parts. The variety of alloying components demonstrates that Itkul metal-makers had used different sources of metal.

The paper presents the results of a study of gold embroidery samples from two sites of different times: Early Iron Age Isakovka I burial ground and the burials of Bolgar medieval settlement. Using the SEM method, we examined the composition of Isakovka I burial ground gold threads and Bulgarian silver threads. The gold composition (Au-Ag-Cu ratio) can significantly vary both between different threads and within the same sample. The data obtained provide to conclude that for the manufacture of gold threads various metals, e.g. native gold (possibly from different ore deposits), as well as scrap gold or other products, could be mixed. The analysis of individual fibers of the filament cores at high zooming confirmed that silk was used in Bolgar samples. For further research, the use of high-precision analysis methods is proposed.

The paper presents the results of archaeological research of Mangup fortress which is one of the largest sites of so-called “cave towns” of the South-West Crimea group. The precise chemical composition of coins was examined by X-Ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) on a Supermini 200 (Rigaku, Japan) sequential wavelength-dispersive spectrometer. The analysis of coin alloys indicated some trends in the coin production of Crimea and the surrounding areas.

The paper is devoted to the contribution of Prof. Victor Vladimirovich Zaykov who is the founder of geoarchaeology in Russia as the interdisciplinary branch of science. He was a major specialist in various sectors of Geosciences and since 1991 worked closely with archaeologists from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Bulgaria. He applied different analytical methods ranging from geomorphologic to microscopic. Together with colleagues, he collected the first handbook on Geoarchaeology in Russia and organized the Annual Scientific Conference “Geoarchaeology and Archaeological Mineralogy”.

The paper is devoted to the issue of the historical content of Sintashta type sites in the Southern Trans-Urals. The author considers that Sintashta fortified settlements and associated burial grounds reflect the history of communities of a transcultural phenomenon that united the clans of miners, metallurgists, blacksmiths and casters from several neighboring archaeological cultures. The metal production became the main reason for many outstanding innovations that were subsequently acquired by the population of vast territories of forest-steppes and steppes of the Southern Urals and Kazakhstan and which determined the main directions of development of livestock crops in the Late Bronze Age.